the only time I shot a deer twice was upon walking up to it to realize it was suffering....

but i agree with andyboyz, i wouldn't hesitate

I've shot deer twice, but only when I broke a neck or accidentally hit the spine, and on walking up to them, they were still aware and trying to get up and whining.

Out of respect for the deer, I'd put one in the head to end the suffering.

The one thing I try not to do, is to make an animal suffer. They deserve better than that.

I don't wait for an animal to go off an die "a natural death", because he's not experiencing a natural death.

If you haven't had to shoot one twice, you just haven't shot enough deer. I shoot 20 or 30 a year, and it is an odd year when I don't have to finish one off with a second shot. It's usually at/just after dark and I'm not chasing one through the South Texas brush. The knife concept can get you hurt. Those hooves are sharp.

I've shot one twice a couple of times but not too many. If needed so be it, s*** happens. Also no offense to those that do but I never back out and come back hours later to track one. I've only actually had two run off that were going to make it very far (really bad shots). I usually gather my stuff, get out and go find 'em.

master, i think the people including myself that back off for a couple of hours are often bowhunting. usually, a deer will not travel very far unless you push it. then, adrenalin takes over and they can go surprising distances.

Bow hunting it makes sense but a lot of people do it rifle hunting as well and I've never understood that.

I have very few I have shot twice and most likely the first shot was lethal. If the deer is alive and suffering, i.e. "dragging" itself away you shoot it again. The argument for wasting meat is moot, yes I said moot, because it is your fault that the first shot was not the kill shot. You owe the deer an ethical kill for taking it.

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master, i think the people including myself that back off for a couple of hours are often bowhunting. usually, a deer will not travel very far unless you push it. then, adrenalin takes over and they can go surprising distances.

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Im with you on this.

I've never had to shoot one twice. Granted, I haven't killed all that many deer, so it's more than likely I will have to at some point if I ever get back into a state where deer hunting isn't a lottery draw.

I have taken 2 that required me cutting their throat after the fact. One was because the deer just didn't want to die. It turned out to be a perfect shot (both lungs and heart), but the doe just didn't want to give up. The other was a piss poor shot on my part that severed her spine. The goat spooking the deer didn't help matters just as I shot, but I flat out jerked the trigger. Using a knife isn't a big deal, so long as you use a little caution and don't act like Rambo.

I see absolutely zero problem with using a 2nd round to finish the job if the 1st round doesn't get it done. No need for the animal to suffer because of your shortcomings, or the shortcomings of the round you used, or any other factor. It doesn't make you a better hunter or more of a man to sit and watch the deer bleed out. It makes you a better hunter to do thing as ethical as you can by your standards.

I used a knife to put down a doe that some teenage kids hit with their car about 4 blocks down from my house. There were 3 cops, 2 firefighters and about 5 other gaukers just watching this poor deer that had both back legs broken suffer. Slit its throat and it was over in about 15-30 seconds. In the cops defense they said it was against HPD policy to do anything in the situtation and they had called the game warden but he was an hour away. I went home washed up and continued to brew beer.